A pensive interlude

Hello y’all. So, you noticed that I had a gap earlier this week posting, and I still haven’t finished the Lourdes posts. Forgive me. I had the Confirmation on Monday, Boston on Tuesday. I’d like to offer some explanations and welcome you into my brain, if you will.

I’m having a down and up week. Let me run through some.

Down: Physically, I’m struggling a bit to get to and from work. Driving is difficult, so I am concerned about my and others safety when I’m on the road. Up: I’m also super excited, my friend Danielle along with my old boss Kim may have secured me a work from home job with my current work, so I wouldn’t have to retire and find a telework job.

Down: I recently started a discussion on the internet. I know, discussions on the internet aren’t good. Up: I finally had enough chutzpa to actually stand up for beliefs, even on the internet.

Enough whining, let’s talk.

If you know me, you know that when my brain is on, it’s going and won’t stop. I have tons of thoughts, so many thoughts, “400 thoughts!!!!!!”, and I can’t get them all out. Even with this platform, I actually have too much in my head to put down on the paper (well, the internets). Right now my brain is going. I won’t say my thoughts are coherent, but they are going.

What am I going on about? I’ll write about some in the future, but today I’d like to focus on what really got me down.

Ireland.

The Jewell of Mary’s crown used to be England, did you know that? England was the great defender of the faith, the stalwart island of the faith when things on the continent were going nuts. St. Patrick was English. Did you know that? And he converted the Irish. When Henry the Eighth (I am I am) went nutzo, English seminarians went to the continent to study and came back to serve the Catholics in hiding, under threat of martyrdom. (Edmund Campion, my favorite.). Scotland went with England.

Ireland, though, stayed Catholic. Maybe in name only, but it was governed by those laws that honored human beings and the tenets of the faith. And stayed a “catholic” country through all the years, even through terror and Catholic vs protestant wars, etc. Ireland I think has romantically maintained a “quaint”, rustic feel, even while the cities were being built up. That simplicity of life we all wanted to believe was a backbone we could rely on and anchor a hectic society. (For a melancholic look at the development if Ireland, listen to “Rare Old Times”)

Well, welcome to the progressive world, Ireland. You’ve made it. And hell, you did it with gusto, didn’t you, no half measure! Legalizing abortion is the single most devastating act you can do against a family and society as a whole. Well done!

I live in America. I advocate for the reversal of the US abortion laws. I will not back down on this – on the most natural and logical level, it is wrong. If it’s not wrong, then nothing is wrong.

Maybe because Ireland had maintained it’s catholic status we never thought it could go that way. Maybe it needed Edmund Campions. Maybe we should have not taken it for granted. But we did, and now……………………

Well. I’m not sure I can continue without using expletives, but I will say this one thing:

This saddens me deeply, infuriates me, on the same level as hearing politicians in America say they will pass pro-life legislation and then don’t. (Looking at you, Paul Ryan. You got up at the March for Life this year. You talked – you didn’t follow through). I will continue to be sad about this. It seems like the devil is winning every where we turn, doesn’t it? Well, the Lanky Guys, Fr. Peter Mussett said this: “we aren’t waiting for God to have the victory. Brother, He’s already WON!” The danger is we get lazy, waiting for the fullness of the victory, and we fall into sin and despair and, well, look at the world right now!!!

Amen! Joe, I couldn’t agree with you more. Unfortunately many of the Irish have fallen away from their faith….what I don’t understand is that so many European countries want a social system that takes care of everyone at any cost, but when it comes to taking care of the life of an unborn baby they don’t seem to care…how can that be possible? I don’t care what religious affiliation you are… how can ending a life be something that ANYONE can feel comfortable with? The argument that a fetus can not sustain itself outside of the womb is nonsense….that embryo…that fetus becomes a living, thinking, breathing human being. When you kill an embryo or fetus you have killed a human life.

I too, finally feel as though I can speak out about my beliefs. For so many years I didn’t, worried what others would think if they didn’t agree. What would my boss think? My co-workers? My “friends”? My experience at Lourdes solidified that decision for me. Our Blessed Mother spoke to me more than I realized…I feel free to defend my beliefs and my faith. If we don’t advocate for the unborn who willl?

Sorry for the ramble…but just wanted you to know that you are not alone in this fight!!

Ramble away! It was Lourdes and a simple statement – “I try not to support companies that are anti-Catholic” that made me think harder about really standing up (with charity, of course!) And I am glad I’m in such good company!

I am with you on Ireland bringing me wayyy down…..They will be an interesting country to watch over the next decade…I think this bad decision will be very evident….unfortunately…but this is how a death culture , once adopted, plays itself out. I am sad for Ireland on so many levels.Thanks for insightful posts – and love the ups an downs. Such is life…